Family Bond
by thenightkind
Summary: Mysterious pods in space always carry some kind of trouble for the Dwarfers. And this time, it's the worst yet...A teenager!
1. Pods

**Family Bond**

Genre: General (may change depending on how the story goes) 

Pairings: Maybe Lister/Rimmer in the future 

A/N: I'm trying my hand at putting in an original character. (Something I promised myself I'd never do XD!) If you like it, please tell me, and I welcome suggestions and ideas. If you give me and idea and I use it, I'll be sure to credit you for it! 

* * *

He had honestly been willing to give it a shot. Really! Everyone had said 'Watch this movie! It's the best thing ever!' Well, he watched it. And he fell asleep half-way through.

Typically, Lister enjoyed sappy romance movies mixed with action-y plots, but this? This was every cheesy cliché crammed into two hours of pure, badly written crap.

"They should'a jos' left it with 'Return of the Jedi.' Whot wos George Lucas thinkin'?" He popped the tape out and through it in the trash, wishing he'd never even put the movie in, in the first place.

"'Revenge of the Sith?' Try 'Meek Attacks of the Ugly Smeggers!"

The Cat danced into the room, finishing with a nice turn. "Aowww! Hey, Buddy!" He turned to Lister, a big fangy grin on his face. "The scanners picked up a pod on the scope. Freak Face and Alphabet Head are checking it out. Come on!" The Cat danced back out, Lister following right on his heels.

* * *

Lister dashed into the Drive Room, the Cat walking more casually behind him.

"Whot's op guys?!" He looked from Kryten to Rimmer and back again.

"It looks like a modified escape pod, but we can't find the ship it's from. It should be nearby somewhere, but it's no where in sight," Rimmer spoke.

"We're scooping it up and putting it in Observation Room 4, sir," Kryten added once Rimmer finished.

"Well, le's 'ave a goosey," Lister replied. They all turned and headed out and to the Observation Room.

* * *

"According to the scanner, this escape pod was modified to be a stasis booth, and there's someone inside," Kryten continued to wave the psi-scanner up and down the pod.

"Does it say 'ho?" Lister ran his had along the metal delicately.

"Oh. They have a chip. It's Space Corps. Or, a branch of it anyway. And...Oh my..." Kryten's eyes widened and he clammed up.

"Whot is it Krytes?" Lister looked up with concern.

"According the psi-scanner, it's a girl. In her mid teens and her name...Is Charlotte Campt Rimmer,"

* * *

"Rimmer!?" Everyone including Rimmer and excluding Kryten, burst out.

"Yes, sirs. All though, for all we know, it's just a shared name. There maybe of no relation at all."

"Well god, let's hope so. My family? That's all we need," Rimmer groused, folding his arms in annoyance, nostrils flaring up with disgust.

"So? Whot are we waitin' for? Let's let her out," Lister hit a few buttons and the pod opened. They all stepped back and waited.

Smoke drifted out of it and a foggy silhouette came into veiw. As the smoke cleared, there was indeed, a girl standing there. She had light brown hair, near sandy blonde, tied back into a messy pony tail. Her eyes were bright, shining green, and at the moment, full of confusion. Her face was also clearly showed her uncertainty

She stood up straight and looked to be about 5'9", and surprisingly formidable, though she had a kind, youthful face, making her appear about nineteen in age.

Her eyes shifted from person to person, taking them in. When she finally rested them on Rimmer, they went wide with shock.

"Big Brother?!"

* * *

A/N: My apologies for any errors. My beta is very busy right now and unable to check this for me. MS Word can only do so much! My further apologies to anyone who liked Star Wars episodes 1-3. I hated them and thought they were god awful. But that's purely my opinion. 


	2. MediBay Stories

A/N: Thank you to you who reveiwed! I really appreciate. I'm making a valiant effort to update this story as often as possible, and reveiws really help me to that. So do suggewstions, so please! If you have an idea, tell me! I love feedback and concrit. Flames make me sad, but in the end, are ignored. Do what you will! (apologies for grammer/spelling errors and any OOCness. Still have no beta!)

Disclaimer: I forgot this! I own nothing Red Dwarf related except for series 6&7 on DVD. The rest of the series' I have belong to my brother. The show belongs to Grant Naylor! RESPECT TEH GRANT NAYLOR! XD

* * *

Upon transporting the girl, her name established to be Charlotte, to the medi-bay, Rimmer quickly decided he wanted no part of any of this and buggered off. Her disappointment was visible. The Cat too, disappeared, needing to think about if it was really worth hitting on one of goal-post head's relatives.

That left Kryten and Lister, the former of which had left the room to check on his ironing, after confirming that their new arrival was in no immediate danger health wise.

"So then...Tell me 'bout ya'self," Lister sat down on the counter across from the bed she was on.

"Well...What do you want to know?" Her accent sounded American, though not purely. Lister couldn't quite place it.

"Well, where ya from, for a sta't?" He took off his hat and tossed it aside absently.

"I was born in America but I spent most of my life on Europa," She replied. That _explains the accent!' _He realized.

Lister nodded slightly, and finally took in her full appearance. She was certainly attractive. He guessed she was at least twenty-one. He hoped so anyway...

"So 'ow old are you then?" Might as well just ask...

"What month is this?" She crossed her arms thoughtfully.

"May,"

"I'll be seventeen in a month," Her voice was somewhat awed as she said this. Sixteen had just flown by, having been in stasis for the majority of it.

"Seventeen!?" He jumped up. "No way! You' go' ta be yankin' mah chain!"

Her eyebrow raised. "How old did you think I was?"

"Well, honestly...twenty or twenty-one," He sat back down. Great! The first girl in three-million years, and she was jail bate.

Her laughter didn't improve his mood. "You really thought so! Wow! People have thought I looked nineteen before, but never more than that!" Her laughter died away and she fixed him with a casual stare.  
"Or perhaps, being on a ship of only men, you just wanted to see me that old," Her smile turned devious as decidedly dirty thoughts entered her mind. They had informed her that they were the only four left on the vessel. Though, no one had told her Lister was the last man alive. They didn't figure she needed that on top of everything else.

Lister decided to steer the conversation in another direction entirely, as she was too perceptive for her own good, and Lister's own comfort.

"So whot's with this 'ole 'Rimmeh is your big brotheh thing?'" He decided this was a safe topic. Rimmer's discomfort instead of his own.

Her face fell and she sighed. "I always knew I had siblings, though I never met them. My mother got involved with a married man, and ended up pregnant with me. When I was older, my mom told me he was married and I knew he was. He told me so in fact. As soon as I was old enough, he began to train me for the Space Corps. I didn't really want to do it but, I did anyway. I was aware that three of my half-brothers were already excelling in the Corps, but I'd heard mention of a fourth son. So, when I joined, I looked up the last son. I didn't want to hang around the others. Snotty gimps the lot of them,"

Lister frowned, listening intently to her story. "Go on. Yeh've peeked mah interest now," He urged.

"Well, I discovered he was working as a technician on a JMC ship. But by the time I got there, I discovered there had been a radiation leak, and all the crew was dead. A short while later my ship was attacked. I managed to escape by launching an escape pod that had a stasis booth in it. It was my hope I'd be picked up relatively fast, but judging as almost a year has gone by, I'd say 'fast' didn't happen,"

Lister's heart fell. She didn't know. It had been three-million-and-some years since then. The news was going to crush her. He really didn't want to be the one to deliver it.

"So, Rimmeh's Dad were sleepin' around?" He questioned, trying to delay the inevitable.

"Yeah. All though, I think it's rather rare for someone who father's a bastard child to stick around as much as he did," _'Even if I wish he hadn't,' _She thought grimly.

"And so, you sough' ou' Rimmeh? Ugh," He made a face.

"After mom died, I wanted some kind of family bond. From what I'd heard, he was kind of the black-sheep. And as I'm a bit of a black-sheep myself, I figured who better to try to connect to. Plus, he's closer to my age. Not by much but hey, I'm not picky," Her smile returned.

"You migh' be re-thinkin' tha' once ya get ta know 'im," Lister shook his head.

* * *

There was on way he could deal with this. He didn't even know this girl! But here she was. His 'sister' come to make his life a living hell! And he knew she'd make it that, because that was just his luck. Nope! No good things ever happened to Arnie J., 'Butt-Wipe 2080'. 

He stared out at the stars. The Observation Dome was the only place he could really go to think. In his reflection he saw the ever present 'H' on his forehead. It was a constant reminder of his death. A death which was just one of the many death's he had caused that day. Arnold Judas Rimmer's biggest ever cock-up. He swallowed holographic tears and focused on the stars.

It was less painful to look out and see how small you are, than look in and see it.

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked it! 


	3. Cat Out of the Bag

A/N: Almost forgot about this story, but everyone seems to like it so much! So here's the next chapter for all you wonderful people! This is still un-beta'd! I tried my best to clean it up, though...

Note: To Mrs. Restal! Thank you for informing me of that. I'm not really knowledgeable when it comes to british laws. For the sake of the story, I'm gonna say the law was changed sometime in the future from 16 to 18. Thanks again!

Thank yous: Lord Thames, Mfreak89, my good friend CruelMistress, Mrs. Restal, and wolf-speaker527 for there wonderful reveiws and support! Freetrader and Rack for putting it on alert! Even though you guys didn't reveiw, I'm glad you like my story!

Anyway, on with the show!

* * *

After leaving the medi-bay, Lister and Charlotte had gone up to the bridge. They filled in the blanks for Kryten, Charlotte re-telling her story, before Kryten began to look nervous, fidgeting compulsively

"Miss Charlotte, ma'am!" He had his overly cheery voice on now. Lister knew what was coming. They would have to tell her. He noted that Rimmer was still no where to be seen. _'Cowardly git,' _He groused internally.

"Please, take a seat, ma'am," She raised an eyebrow at him, looking pointedly down at the chair she was already in. "Oh, yes, erm..." If mechanoids could blush, he would've been scarlet

"What is it? This obviously bad news..." She wasn't an idiot, and Kryten was really bad at looking calm in bad situations.

"Well, er, umm," He began not-so successfully. "How are you settling in?" Topic change. Classic.

"Spit it out!" She prodded, giving him a look like she was trying to melt his internal circuitry with her mind.

Kryten took a deep, unneeded breath before speaking. "How long after you discovered the crew of Red Dwarf had been wiped out, did your ship get attacked?" He was on the verge of squeaking out words.

"Little over three months. Why?" Her eyes narrowed and her posture tensed with nervousness.

"It's well...it's been a bit longer than a year since then," He managed.

"How much longer?" She was getting a bit panicky.

"Threemillionyears," He ran together, his voice dropping so it was barely audible.

"What!? Did you say...? Three million? Three million whole years I've been out?" She stood up at this point, staring Kryten down. Lister decided to intrude before Kryten got beaten to scrap metal.

"Yea'. I was pu' in stasis too. Tha's how I survived the radiation leak. I know i's hard ta process, but, i's true. We're the las' people in the universe," He looked at her sadly, meeting her eyes.

"I...I...I knew it. I did. I know how long it takes for radiation to go down to a safe level. I just...couldn't except it. All this time...I just..." She hung her head and sniffed back tears. "Is there a place for me to sleep?" Her voice was higher pitched, about to break.

"Yea'. We got sleepin' quarters down near ours. I'll take ya," He placed a hand on her back soothingly, guiding her towards the elevator.

The Cat looked at Kryten. "Well...that's a bitch," His tone was flippant, obviously uncaring as he danced of down the corridor. You could almost hear the jive music.

* * *

After leaving her in her new quarters, having been thanked and told that she wanted to be alone for awhile, he wandered off to find Rimmer. The smegger needed to know what was going on. 

He found him on his way back from the Observation Dome. "Rimmeh! Look man, I need ta talk to yeh," He fell into step next to him.

"Bugger off, Listy. I'm busy," He bit out, nostrils flaring in annoyance.

"Come on man. She's yer sisteh. And she's nice ta boot. She jus' wants ta get ta know yeh. I 'ave no idea why," Lister trailed off. He did not want to start insulting Rimmer. It would just make the man more cranky and less likely to talk to anyone, much less his new family relation.

"No relative of mine could possibly be nice. No matter how distant. It's a confirmed impossibility. It's in statistics books." He kept his gaze deliberately ahead, refusing to look at the man next to him.

"Bu' she _is_ nice! I talked with 'er. She's also really upset. We 'ad ta tell 'er I was the las' man alive," Lister stared sadly at the floor.

"That's enough to ruin anyone's day, Lister. That's enough to ruin anyone's desire to _live_," He added, flaring his nostrils in appreciation of his good jibe.

Lister just sighed heavily. "Come on, Rimmeh. She's still jus' a teenager. And she jus' learned that er'yone she eveh knew is dead. No' only tha'. She's stuck three million years inta space with no hope of eveh gettin' home. Jus' talk to 'er. Man. Tha's all 'm sayin'." With that, Lister turned and headed off down a different corridor.

Rimmer stood in the hallway, waging an internal war. It wouldn't be to hard to find her. No doubt she was in sleeping quarters near theirs. But, did he want to find her was the question he was asking himself.

He started walking again, and before he knew it, he found himself standing outside a door, soft sounds of crying coming from the other side. He closed his eyes took a deep, unneeded breath, and with the quiet affirmation in his head '_You can do it, Big Man!', _he opened the door.

* * *

A/N: Kind of a cliffy, but I hope you like it! I'll try really hard to update soon. Suggestions are always welcome! 


	4. Heart to Heart

A/N: Sorry this came late, and sorry it's so short! Everything ended up busy, and before I knew it, Friday had come and passed. I decided to write at least something! I wrote this quickly and didn't proof read it so I apologize in advance for any mistakes!

Note: (not sure if I said before) This takes place after the third series but before the fourth, and will sorta follow the plot...sorta... XD

* * *

He was now faced with what he never thought he'd be faced with. A teenage girl. Who, on top of that, was a blood relation! Arnold Rimmer suddenly felt the urge to run and hide under a table with a colander on his head. But it was to late. She was looking up at him with innocent green eyes, cheeks tear stained.

"Erm...how are you settling in?" He asked, internally cursing himself. _'What kind of question is that you twonk!?'_

"All right. I've been better, but everyone's been really nice," She sniffed back her tears, rubbing her eyes with the edge of her sleeve.

Rimmer noted quickly it was an officers suit, though tailored differently. He could always tell rank and position from the look of the uniform, but this one he didn't recognize.

"Was there something you needed?" She asked, looking up at him expectantly. She was sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk a little ways away. Rimmer decided to step out of the doorway so the door could close.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He didn't know why he was doing this, but the human part of him managed to wiggle forward enough to tell him, _this _was the right thing to do. "I think we should talk."

* * *

Lister really hoped telling Rimmer to talk to the girl was a good idea. She was after all, there because she wanted to meet the smeghead. But he still didn't want Rimmer to scare her so much she disappeared. Or worse, ejected herself out the airlock. Somehow, he doubt she would do either of those things.

He tossed another playing card at the bowl sitting a few feet from him, watching it sail past. Normally, he was good at this game, but at the moment, he was way to distracted.

He decided that it was way to quiet in there and went off in search of some company. Maybe The Cat was up for a game of Unicycle Polo...

* * *

They stared at each other, Rimmer sitting in a chair and Charlotte still on the edge of the bed across from him.

"So, there we are then," She looked down at her fidgeting hands, tilting her head of enough to look at him.

"Yes, I suppose we are..." He'd never had a heart-to-heart (at least that's what he figured this was) with anyone. Somehow, he felt like a giant weight had been lifted from him. He'd explained some of his childhood after she had explained hers, and they could both empathize with one another.

"This is a lot to drop on you all at once, I know. But, I hope you'll give me a chance. I'm not asking you to see me as a sister. Not yet. But maybe," She reached out, balancing her hand over the projection of Rimmer's, feeling the static tingle of the electric current.

He looked up at her, meeting her eyes in disbelief. "Maybe we could try to be friends?"

* * *

A/N: Apologies again! I hope you guys are still hangin' in there and reading! 


End file.
